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5 stars

This book punched me in the gut, slapped me across the face and yelled obscenities at me. It is awful, horrible, and horrific... all in the best way possible. It is real, and raw and hateful. Rabbit ran smack into me and despite the fact that I found him to be despicable, I found myself caring about his story. I will be reading the second installment immediately and will hope that he does okay for his son.

I had never read Updike before and now I realize that I probably deserved that punch.

As I said, so good to see another who appreciates Updike.

2012
The novel is set in the late fifties and depicts five months out of Harry “Rabbit�� Angstrom’s life. This novel is postwar fiction and while it is very dated, it is interesting to me because it’s the era of my parents. Harry and Janice could have been my parents. I could have been their child. Harry was a basketball hero in high school. Now he is married with one child and another on the way and a dead end job. He finds himself trapped and he runs like the rabbit who feels he must escape. This novel is told in the present tense which was fairly innovative then and it is in third person like we are in Harry’s head. As an author, Updike is hard to beat. I really enjoyed his words, sentences and how he could create pictures with his words. Harry is a nobody. There is nothing to admire about Harry. He is thoughtless and takes no responsibility. Rabbit, Run is the first of a series of books---Rabbit, Redux (1971), Rabbit is Rich (1981) and Rabbit at Rest (1990) which together will create a study of the ordinary American man in the second half of the 20th century. The setting is Mt. Judge, Pennsylvania. Updike has suggested that Harry’s last name, Angstrom, represents ‘stream of angst��. When Updike first wrote this book, apparently the publisher made him remove some of the sexual content but later he add it back. Themes in the book include the entire off limit subjects; sex, religion and alcohol. I think younger readers find this book hard to connect with because it probably just seems too unbelievable. It is filled with pictures of telephone polls, people walking instead of driving, television is fairly new product. Women didn’t, in general, go to college but got married and had their families staying home. Men didn’t help their wives and expected things to be waiting for them when they got home from work. The description of Janice having her baby while Harry waits in the waiting room (smoking) is exactly how it was, Janice staying in the hospital a full week before going home---exactly how it was.

Initially hard to get into but I was eventually captured by the strength of Updike’s writing. I was especially impressed by the way he could describe both feelings and physical entities with the same clarity and perception. He gets right to the heart of 50s America, the hopes and fears of the ordinary people, and at the same time paints a compelling portrait of one character, Harry “Rabbit�� Angstrom, trying desperately to recapture the special feeling that touched him as a successful basketball player.

I found the characters hard to like yet very convincing and understandable. There is a feeling of tension and constraint, societal and sexual, and the characters push against this - yet Rabbit’s attempts to escape bring only harm and grief. There were times when self pity took over too much, the attitudes towards women are naturally dated (but still revealing), and personally I don’t like long descriptions of sexual activity - but I can see why Updike felt they had to be included for honesty and authenticity.

Not altogether appealing to me, but I did come to appreciate it and would read the other Rabbit books.

Rabbit, Run by John Updike
3.5 stars

I have heard so much about John Updike over the years that I am glad to have finally read him. I appreciated his crisp and clear writing but the subject matter was dated and not relatable for me. Harry “Rabbit�� Angstrom is a 26 year old who is married, has one child with a second on the way. He walks out on his wife, carries on with a woman named Ruth and whines about his situation the rest of the book. At times I felt that the book was one long monologue, there really weren’t chapters. I really couldn’t understand what Ruth saw in him with such baggage and he was unemployed to boot. The later half of the book was more engaging for me and the tragedy oddly enough I found more readable. The ending was apropos and I can see why the book became a series.

“I don’t know, it seemed like I was glued in with a lot of busted toys and empty glasses and the television going and meals late or never and no way of getting out. Then all of a sudden it hit me how easy it was to get out, just walk out, and by damn it was easy.��

“He is angry about so many things he doesn’t know where to begin; the only thing clear is he’s going to give her hell.��

“Be a good husband. A good father. Love what you have left.��

“Immersed in hate he doesn’t have to do anything; he can be paralyzed and the rigidity of hatred makes a kind of shelter for him.��

Updike is not one of my preferred authors, but my brother really loves his books, so I have quite a few of his books on my shelves that he insists I must read. I added this book to my TBR Takedown list to make him happy. So, I was not looking forward to it. I read Rabbit Redux a while ago, and it was ok. This book was also just ok, for me. It was way better than some of the books I read in March for the Women's Prize longlist, and I do appreciate that Updike crafts his stories well and has a nice writing style. I am just really not a fan of his characters, I guess. Maybe I would like them more if I was a conservative male reader?
I gave this book 4 stars, rounding up from 3.75.